By Nikhil Sharma and Pranav Kashyap
(Reuters) -Wall Street futures inched up on Monday, buoyed by hopes of breakthrough trade deals and ahead of earnings from industrial and tech giants that could set the tone for markets this week.
S&P 500 E-minis rose 15.75 points, or 0.25%, at 7:03 a.m. ET, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis climbed 66.25 points, or 0.29%, hovering near all-time highs hit last week.
Dow E-minis were up 92 points, or 0.21%.
With President Donald Trump’s August 1 tariff deadline looming, investors are hopeful that there will soon be signs of fresh trade deals.
The European Union is, however, gearing up with an arsenal of potential counter-measures against the United States, EU diplomats said, as hopes for a breakthrough trade deal with Washington dwindled.
This comes after U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Sunday expressed confidence over striking a trade deal with the EU.
Trump has sent letters to other trading partners including Canada, Japan and Brazil, setting blanket tariff rates ranging from 20% to 50%.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq notched new records last week as investors shrugged off tariff threats, betting the economic fallout might not be as dire as once feared.
Meanwhile, the blue-chip Dow hovered just 1.64% shy of its all-time high.
Markets delivered a mixed reaction to the earnings season that kicked off last week, showing that even a blockbuster report was not enough to impress investors. Netflix, for instance, posted its steepest intraday tumble in over three months on Friday despite beating earnings’ estimates.
Now, all eyes are on marquee names such as Alphabet and Tesla, whose results this week will kick off the “Magnificent Seven” earnings parade, and could set the tone for Wall Street.
Shares of Tesla and Alphabet were up over 1% each in premarket trading. Verizon gained 4.2% after boosting its annual profit forecast.
Meanwhile, shares of Domino’s Pizza rose 5.2% after the world’s largest pizza chain surpassed analysts’ expectations for second-quarter U.S. same-store sales.
Of the 59 S&P 500 companies that have reported quarterly earnings so far this season, 81.4% have surpassed Wall Street’s earnings expectations, compared with a long-term average of 67.1%, according to LSEG I/B/E/S data as of Friday.
The week is light on the economic data front, with only notable indicators being weekly jobless claims figures and the July business activity report expected on Thursday.
Investors will closely analyze Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks on Tuesday for any clues on the central bank’s next move, especially after last week’s mixed inflation signals.
Traders have largely ruled out a July rate cut, and are now pegging the odds at about 60% for a September reduction, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
Ethereum-linked companies Bitmine Immersion Technologies, Gamesquare Holdings, BTCS and Sharplink Gaming advanced between 5.5% and 6.7% as ether traded near its highest level this year after Trump signed into law a bill regulating stablecoins in the United States.
(Reporting by Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Shinjini Ganguli)
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